Regulation

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig, said there's a limit to how much more the central bank can help the U.S. economy and that the focus should now be on solving the country's fiscal problems.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet Wednesday to vote on posing a series of questions to the public on investment companies' use of derivatives, according to a notice on its website.

First Busey Corp. in Champaign, Ill., has received $72.6 million from the Small Business Lending Fund, the largest award to date since the Treasury Department began disbursing funds to community banks last month.

Institutions made more progress this year clearing out the worst of shared corporate loans stemming from the financial crisis, but whether they can translate that into loan expansion is still an open question.

Any broad new plan to refinance mortgages would hold considerable appeal to the Obama administration, and might raise fewer objections than earlier plans did.

The FDIC and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will soon finalize one of the more significant requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act — the mandate for large banking organizations and systemically important nonbank financial institutions to prepare resolution plans, more commonly known as "living wills."

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $88.3 million to settle charges related to apparent violations of economic sanctions dating back to 2005.

On Thursday, the Fed published written agreements struck earlier this month with the $119 million-asset Texas Bancshares Inc. in Snyder, Texas, and the $169 million-asset Flagship Financial Group Inc. in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Warren Buffett's $5 billion investment in Bank of America Corp. may boost investor confidence short-term, but over the long haul it will fatten Berkshire's wallet while worsening the bank's troubles.

Broker-dealers don't have to track every message sent through social media — only the ones that relate to business purposes. And unscripted interactions? They can be reported after they occur.